More Contenders Enter Competition for Mumbai Elevated Corridor
The railways recently sweetened the deal over the Mumbai elevated corridor for private players by reissuing the request for quotation (RFQ). With this, Siemens and Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd have now entered the fray for winning the Rs. 30,000 crore project. There are already six more private players at present competing for winning the bid.
The railway board withdrew its current RFQ conditions and replaced them with new ones with more investor-friendly clauses. This has attracted new private players to compete for the bid for constructing the Mumbai elevated corridor. Currently, there are eight private institutions who have shown interest in the project. They include Gammon, L&T, Reliance Infrastructure, GMR, IL&FS, Siemens and Tata Realty. The railways is hoping for at least two more private entities to come forward and apply for the bidding process.
Company short listing process will take place after September 20th. The request for project (RFP) will be issued after short listing companies.
New RFQ clauses
The railway board said that the new RFQ conditions are attractive as the changes made are more lucrative for private entities. Some of the changes include
1) Switching from broad guage to standard guage
2) Changes in viability gap funding
3) External financial support to the consessionaire
4) Increase in land parcels
With respect to viability gap funding (VGF), along with central government’s 20% VGF, the railways is extending soft loans with interest rates of 2%. The new RFQ includes the option of loans from the Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd (IRFC) for procurement of rolling stock.
The Mumbai Elevated Corridor
The Mumbai elevated railway corridor was proposed in 2007 by then Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. It is a 62.3 km railway line from Oval Maidan to Virar passing through Churchgate, Chami Road, Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel, Elphinston Road, Dadar, Matunga Road, Mahim junction, Bandra, Santa Cruz, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali, Dahisar, Bhayandar, Naigaon, Vasai Road and Nalasopara.
The corridor will run along the same alignment as the Western line. The proposed corridor is intended to augment the Western line’s system capacity. Out of the 26 stations proposed on the corridor, 5 stations will be underground, 19 will be elevated and 2 will be graded.
Earlier this August, the railways had invited fresh bids for the project by making changes in its terms and conditions in order to attract more participation of global players. The last date of submission for this RFQ has been extended from September 2nd to September 20th of this year.
